Interview Assignment

“Success is not a good teacher, failure makes you humble”- Shah Rukh Khan. Every teacher has their own philosophies and styles in the way they teach. However, these viewpoints may change from when a teacher has first started to how they are today. This is all due to the experiences they have endured throughout their years of teaching. I first interviewed Abraham Smith, a second year ninth grade science teacher. Mr. Smith got into teaching later in life, but is still new to the profession. I also interviewed a more experienced teacher, Jed Detmerring, who has been teaching various science related subjects for several years at different schools. Years of experience will only improve a teacher’s confidence in how to handle different instances

They can be the best sources of help, when it is needed. The new teacher interviewed expressed that he often times has the same formative and summative assessments as other teachers. He finds it beneficial to compare his class’s results to the others to see if there are any major differences in scores. Mr. Smith said, “If they [students] do better on mine, I can say that I am teaching it this way how are you teaching it? And maybe they can try it my way to achieve higher test scores”. He expressed that this way helps them refine their teaching techniques. The more experienced teacher taught previously at a school where he was the only teacher of three different science subjects and had no one to offer any assistance to him when he was struggling at the new job. Mr. Detmerring said, “Coming here I have realized that there are so many new ways to teach a subject, new labs, different philosophies around a certain unit”. At a large school like Southeast Polk, he now has the opportunity to learn different teaching strategies through collaboration with the many teachers in his department. The interview was even interrupted at one

It may be because of a certain event that has happened in their time as a student or because of someone who has inspired them to become what they are today. Unlike the majority of teachers, Mr. Smith did not start off his first major career as a teacher. He was actually a union pipefitter for several years before getting injured on the job forcing him to go back to school, not knowing what he wanted to do. He took and Into to Education class that landed him student teaching at SE Polk. Mr. Smith said, “I ended up helping two students get a concept that they did not understand and if you’ve seen that lightbulb moment where the student says “Oh that makes sense”, for me that’s when I knew that this is what I wanted to do”. Helping students achieve things that they never thought that they could is something that does not compare to anything else, for Mr. Smith. In that “lightbulb” moment he discovered his passion for teaching. In contrast, the experienced teacher has always known that teaching was for him. While helping his friends in High School with their Chemistry homework, sparked an interest in teaching that has never faded. Mr. Dettmering said, “Even though my first time in a classroom was in an Elementary Special Education classroom, it just felt right to be helping students”. Both teachers essentially have the same reason that they teach: to help students. However, it can take some longer than others to